Inspiring Conversations with Lindsay Love of TherapyLuv

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsay Love.

Hi Lindsay, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and have worked as a trauma therapist for about 10 years in community behavioral health.

In 2020, I was working for one of the largest community behavioral health agencies in Maricopa County as a Clinical Manager and serving on my local school board in Chandler, when the pandemic hit.

There were a lot of conversations about mental health, but they were not nuanced conversations. As mental health does, white voices and experiences were centered and we were leaving Black Indigenous Communities of Color behind.

Even in the conversations about George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, those conversations were centered around white comfort and education, which BIPOCs did not have the energy for the emotional labor that this required. I was meeting clients and colleagues who were feeling drained, anxious, fearful, and avoidant around the events and workplace interactions, with no place to go.

We tend to bottle our feelings. I was going through similar things in a workplace where I did not feel supported as a Black woman in leadership and on the board where I was getting death threats from community members for talking about race. Other colleagues in the field reached out and encouraged me to start my own practice on my terms.

So I took that opportunity to create TherapyLuv, PLLC, where I focus on creating a treatment environment that caters to the people our mental health system has often excluded. In January of 2021, I because apart of “the great exodus” and left my full-time job and have been in my practice ever since.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I am a first-time business owner and I never thought business ownership was going to be on my path. The concept of business always seemed so out of reach for me and I am intimidated by the financial piece, like most therapists. That’s a daily struggle. especially when you factor in impostor syndrome that we all develop,

Also, I had to re-frame what my work/life/balance would look like. There is no PTO or sick time in private practice and I wanted to be cognizant of my physical and emotional capacity because it really does impact how I serve clients. If I’m not feeling well if I’m tired or I am hungry, I am not going to be fully present for my clients in a way that is meaningful for them.

There are a lot of mediocre services out there directed at marginalized communities and I don’t ever want to deliver any service that unintentionally inflicts harm because I am not fully in it. The way that I worked in community behavioral health is not the way I can continue to work now. Especially, as I think about disrupting systems and creating new things. I do not want to operate from a productivity-driven mentality.

That’s hard because I am always thinking about the numbers logistically as any business would. However, I’ve been better at noticing the thought and reeling myself in so that I can focus on my practice and the people I serve.

We’ve been impressed with TherapyLuv and PLLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
TherapyLuv, PLLC started out as a solo private practice and now, we’ve grown into a group private practice as of February 2022. We provide individual and family therapy services for adolescents and adults. We are trauma therapists. In fact, I am a Certified EMDR therapist and Brainspotting trained.

My associate therapists are trained in a number of trauma modalities as well, such as trauma-informed yoga, EMDR, Brainspotting, and mindfulness-based practices. We are all social workers, so incorporate social justice and racial justice into our practice. Our practice is LGBTQ-affirming. I am a fat liberationist, so I believe a safe space for my clients struggling with fatphobia is paramount.

We believe that the mark of a good therapy session is when all of your parts are acknowledged. At this point, we are telehealth only, which is convenient for our clients because they can be surrounded by the things they love or that bring them comfort while they are processing things that are hard for them. We also have the ability to see clients across the state, making our services accessible to our rural communities or our areas of the state where having a therapist that looks like you may not be accessible.

I also offer licensure supervision for therapists in the field because I believe it is important to bring more qualified therapists who can treat diverse people into the field. I am also providing EMDR consultation as a Consultant in Training (CIT) which I am eager to start because we need therapists t use these modalities to treat racialized trauma, birth trauma, disorders eating, and body image.

I am so proud of what TherapyLuv, PLLC is becoming as it grows.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Always being willing to learn has helped me a lot in this journey because I don’t know everything, but I am determined enough to seek out answers from someone or some resource that does. I’ve developed a lot of new skills that make me a better business owner and therapist.

I have energy, which helped because you get so many exciting opportunities when you start a practice and grow it.

I’m very determined. Especially, when it comes to developing others for the field. I want more peers that look like me, so I am constantly recruiting people to dip their toes in this field.

Contact Info:

• Email: lindsay@therapyluv.com
• Website: www.therapyluv.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therapy_luv/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Therapyluv/

Image Credits
Noemí Alejandra Gonzalez @Noemipossible